How do variables other than light, such as temperature, affect the evolution of the visual system? New research in PNAS by Chang lab postdoctoral fellow Gianni Castiglione et al. studied the vision pigment rhodopsin in nocturnal high-altitude catfishes, finding that the pigments kinetic rates have sped up at high altitudes in order to compensate for decreases in ambient temperature.

Does a genetic mutation in one organism have the same effect in another from a different species? New research from Ph.D. candidate Sarah Dungan in Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences highlights a case where parallel genetic changes don’t necessarily correspond to parallel phenotypic (trait) changes. This epistasis means that the functional roles of rhodopsin mutations in the visual evolution of whales, and the nature of the selective pressures behind them, need to be reassessed.

Congratulations to Ph.D. candidates Nihar Bhattacharyya and Ryan Schott for their new paper on in the Journal of Experimental Biology! The study is highlighted in an “Inside JEB” feature, and is the current “Editor’s choice”!

We are proud to announce that Belinda Chang has been elected to the SMBE council! Belinda has also been nominated as an Editor for the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. Congratulations Belinda!

Congratulations also to Ph.D. candidate Eduardo de Almeida Gutierrez, who gave a great poster: “Rhodopsin function elucidates visual adaptation to dim light and highlights contrasting sensory specializations in bats“